by Brad Warner

The virtual book release party for There Is No God And He Is Always With You (available at bookstores and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Indie Bound) is tomorrow at 6pm Pacific Time (9pm Eastern, 8pm Central, 7pm Mountain) at:

Am reading the book now on kindle and enjoying. Holy crap I think the secret of the universe will be revealed in the next chapter ……. no that was about having faith that if you move to Finland you’ll become taller and better looking. Anyway this is a great book, but don’t take my word on that – find out for yourself.

I woke up smothering in my own skin. First I’d dreamed that my friend was smothering me with a pillow, and awakened in a panic, then thought about being in the womb, how claustrophobic that must be, and then being born into this, an atmosphere breathable enough, but trapped in a body. Worried that death will no doubt come with a last breath, a certain smothering effect, no doubt, and then the bardos where the soul flies hither and yon seeking shelter until it finds a womb-home for a while all over again. Left with the feeling of entrapment in the flesh, caught here in this form, but who is caught? What is feeling this? Surely not the construct of personality that I think of as myself, that is total fabrication. What is inside and outside anyway? These are only concepts, easy explanations. What is free and what is not free, and from what exactly? It is caught in the eyes, the blood flow, the glitter of living. But where am I now? Is meditation a way of reconciling what is with what is not, obliterating the distinctions of what is here and there, everywhere. I can close my eyes and do labeling, and that is calming, I can open them and label what I see, these thoughts, these make believe moments in and outside of time and space, and it all becomes a kind of song, a poem that rides on the breath. I want to escape this skin I’m in, or am I?

Thank you 108. I read through the preview and will buy the book. I must say from the few pages that I read that I feel this might be Brad’s most mature work. That only makes sense I guess. I have remarked in the past that he should combine travel writing with philosophy. I love both forms as long as the philosophizing isn’t too dry. Anyway, looking forward to the read.

Mumbles, Not as poetic as your experience but I had one of the most vivid dreams of my life last night. I dreamed I suffered an electrical shock at about 2AM. It was very intense and sat me upright in bed. Upon awakening I first thought it was a lightning strike close to the window. I even worried that my wife might have been affected. Then laying there I thought maybe I had some kind of stroke or something. Checked all my fingers and toes. Everything moved so I went back to sleep. Still not convinced it was a dream.

Seriously, life is too important to take seriously! (Shunryu Suzuki, more or less)

Propitious dreams. Ok, now that I’ve looked that up, that wasn’t what I thought it was, but I will hope they are anyway!

I feel like I’m behind myself at the end of a sentence, speaking, often lately. Listening to myself. Weird.

“it all becomes a kind of song, a poem that rides on the breath…”;

“The ability to relax and allow action generated by the stretch of ligaments or fascia is part of the necessity of breath in the posture, and informs the place of occurrence of consciousness and the ability to feel.” Maybe: “is a part of the song of breath…”

It appears to be some kind of gnostic, existential break or opening, but opening into/onto what exactly? Consciousness is a closed system, whether “the universe is dreaming that it’s in you and it can’t get out” or you are dreaming you are in the universe you can’t get out. The illusion of location within or without is a convenience of language and conceptualization. There is no escape, there is nothing to escape from.

“What disintegrates in periods of rapid transformation is not the self, but its defenses and assumptions. Self-protection restricts vision and movement like a suit of armor, making it harder to adapt. Going to pieces, however uncomfortable, can open us up to new perceptions, new data, and new responses.”
– Joanna Macy

108, Yes that sounds like what happened to me. Exploding head syndrome? Aptly named I think..

Dug out my Kindle this morning after purchasing Brad’s book last night. I hadn’t touched it in a few months and the thing still had an almost full charge. That’s impressive considering I have to charge my phone almost everyday..

I confess to having read Brad’s latest book. Thoughtful and thought-provoking, if a bit on the warm-and-fuzzy side. I miss Brad’s usual theme story, though. He does talk about his own experiences with Zen practice some (I find myself wishing he wouldn’t). All in all, I can recommend this book with a clear conscience. It is certainly different from anything I’ve read on the God question. Except for Oolon Colluphid’s books. There might be some trouble there, if Brad ever goes hitchhiking.

Thanks, stonemirror. But for some reason I can’t log into my wordpress account – password’s not being recognised (I’ve tried both of my email adddresses and my username with confirmed, ie just re-registered pw). Never mind.

Assuming that I’ve assumed wrong, I just tried to create a new wordpress account, to satisfy gravatar. WordPress says my email and username already exist. So it appears I DO already have a wordpress.com account – the one registered here. But gravatar won’t let me sign in with it – says it’s invalid (either the email or the pw, that is). Should I sit more?

“The illusion of location within or without is a convenience of language and conceptualization.”

Through the movement of breath, the “where I am” that is informed by the senses can act; that’s my experience. Those actions are sometimes completely out of the context of my situation and environment, and yet in my experience they turn out to be exactly appropriate to a larger context and environment that I failed to consciously appreciate at the time.

If I can get to Philly, I will be there. But in the meantime, I got your book yesterday (I hope you at least get some of the bucks from it). I’m glad to see that your book is higher in new release ratings than the new book by the Sakyong (of Shambhala fame)(I know, it’s not a competition but still I kind of have sour grapes with Shambhala and so I was happy to see that). In fact, this morning it was listed as number 1 whatever the category it is put in. I was looking at the title and wondered whether my evangelical Christian auntie who I am going to see soon will think I have finally embraced her GOD.

108, I went to the gravatar site and found that I had not registered to wordpress. I registered with the same email addy I used to register with HCZ then followed the onscreen instructions. Sorry I can’t be more helpful.

Yeah…gravatar’s telling me I have registered to wordpress, as anon 108 (or someone else has), but won’t let me sign in with the email and pw I use here. I re-set my pw and tried both my emails (in case I’d misremembered whcih one I’d used) but still couldn’t sign in. And so forth.

“The more deeply you realize the basis of the world, the
more deeply you realize that the human world is historical.
In Buddhism that world is called the world of cause and effect.
The world of God or Buddha is beyond the historical world.
There is no cause and effect in the world of Buddha. When
cause and effect cease to function, the human world ceases
to exist.”

Brad, I really enjoyed the spree cast you did tonight even with all the glitches! I think it’s a really good way to connect with people and allow an opportunity for us to interact with you. I’ll be looking forward to the next book release party pt.2

“Manora asked Vasubandhu, ‘What is the enlightenment of the Buddha?’ Vasubandu sqaid, ‘It is the original nature of the mind.’ Manora then asked, ‘What is the original nature of the mind?’ Vashubandhu said, ‘It is the emptiness of the elements of sense faculties, sense consciousness, sense data.” (Denkoroku)

Meanwhile, on another planet:

‘The empty hand grasps the hoe-handle
Walking along I ride the ox
The ox crosses the wooden bridge
The bridge is flowing, the water is still

(“Zen’s Chinese Heritage”, Andy Ferguson, pg 2)

“The ox crosses the wooden bridge” describes an effect of the rhythm of stretch and activity as the weight of the entire body rests in the ligaments that connect the sacrum and pelvis: each step of an ox on a wooden bridge reverberates to the headtop and throughout the body of any rider, from the spine to the surface of the skin, and the same is true for the individual whose weight rests in three directions between the sacrum and pelvis.

The phrase “the bridge is flowing” could be said to describe a moment before sleep when the location of awareness seems to shift in place in the body, while “the water is still” could describe the cessation of volitive activity in the body at that same moment. For most people, the loss of volitive control in the activity of the body is associated with falling, and as a consequence many people experience a “hypnic jerk” or sudden muscular contraction as they begin to fall asleep. Fuxi suggests that an awareness that shifts location freely in the body can come about as a matter of course, as the ability to feel informs the sense of location and the weight of the relaxed body generates stretch and activity in the movement of breath. He depicts a process of gradual stages whereby a muscular contraction is avoided, at the moment when a shift in the location of awareness with a cessation of volitive activity registers in the sub-consciousness.’ Mark quotes himself, of course.

“Furthermore, though perception and awareness may have no traces, sound, form, and motion cannot have boundaries… This mind has no borders, no boundaries, no sides or surfaces. Therefore the eye basically does not apprehend anything, forms and colors cannot divide. Is it not that faculties, consciousness, and data of sense are all empty?” more contagion of the lamp

‘Although Fuxi outlines the stages of a process, and the process may be said to be gradual, the transition from a waking state to a state between waking and sleeping must be said to be sudden, marked by a sense of location that can shift and a cessation of any voluntary activity in the body.’ more from Mr. Mark

very funny, Mr. Mumbles. Thanks Fred; you guys both pick me up, along with many of the other regulars of this thread, and I appreciate it.

Alan, the point you make is Dogen’s famous question enroute to China, is it not- if everyone already has Buddha-nature, why practice? If shikantaza is “just hit sit”, as you could stretch Kobun’s remarks to conclude, then why offer instructions to folks who are thinking of taking up zazen as a practice?

Well, many teachers don’t offer any instruction. The standard is to mutter something about attending to the breath without any context or explanation, and then move on. Right?

What I am saying is that if you take up a cross-legged posture for any length of time, or a pose like “single-whip” in Tai-Chi, you discover that there is stretch and activity in the movement of breath, and you discover that there is some kind of relationship between the stretch and activity necessary to breath and awareness.

Do you have to know that these relationships exist in order to experience them? No. Is there a reason to accurately describe these relationships?

Let me give you an example. You are hiking in the Sierras. It’s beautiful, and your senses are alive. Everyone out hiking in the Sierras this day is going to experience something like that, hopefully. You have a compass, you have a topo map. If you know where you are, you can use the compass and the map to pick landmarks that you see in your surroundings, so that you can avoid walking in circles.

You don’t have to want to go anywhere in particular, to want to avoid walking in circles. For me, the idea is to recognize and accept that stretch and involuntary activity are a natural part of the movement of breath, and so in fact is discernment with regard to the senses and the experience of distinction of the senses, all of which like our compass and map example begins with where I am. Try it when you’re falling asleep, instead of when you’re trying to be enlightenment awake (TM), and you may find that where you are is moving even when your body is not; that is what the piece in the Denkoroku was referring to, in my estimation.

I can also say that my sense of where I am may shift, even though my body does not. I emphasize that a state between waking and sleeping exists, and is as close as the necessity in the movement of breath at the moment, to open myself to the state of mind that supports movement in the location of awareness.

Yes, you are right, I’m talking about a physical experience of the location of awareness. Right in front of your nose, no wait it’s in your hand, back in your chest, where is it. Close your eyes, where is here? does it hold still? Can you keep breathing without here shifting? Where was here when you came out of the trance of your thought? Maybe in your head, maybe not.

Ok, I’m talking about the juxtaposition of the sense of equalibrium with the sense of proprioception and the sense of gravity. As in, here.

That’s what I’m talking about, and you might have to lie in bed at four in the morning trying to get back to sleep before you can be relaxed enough and at the same time alert enough to follow where your awareness is in-between waking and sleeping. Can’t be “done”.

Can be open to here moving, the state of mind where here is moving; involves all the senses, and a rhythm in the necessity of breath.

The initial experience seemed like that old woodcut image of a wizard breaking through one world into the next, knowing there is no end to the breaking through, however, instead of this being a relief it was more of an exasperating experience as if there is no way out of here (wherever we are at any given moment in space/time, although that locale is debatable in and of itself)…Spiritual yes in the sense that the old paradigm of there being promise of a “better” place to go, or at least another place or whatever, the sense of present location in relation to that… is long long gone. So this consciousness that works through the senses of the body and writes to you now is truly without locality, it resides nowhere/everywhere and always has. When Adyi, Nisargadatta, etc. talk of an Absolute being other than this right here now (wherever that is, dependent on immediately shifting circumstances) —that it is “elsewhere” does not refer to its whereabouts but to its being unknowable (via the senses). Does this unknowingness know it is not knowing itself unless and until it arrives via consciousness? If that is the case, then at death there is dissolution into this unknowable Absolute without locality. This dis-locality is what I feel right now, set adrift even while in the body, if I can conceptualize that properly, or rather, with the firm conviction I had before when I said “in the body.” Where was I?
Anyway, you get the picture, I can’t find any old maps through myths, fairytales, legends, etc. to approximate this other than a gnostic entrapment in the body that requires death to realize it, but, as I said, it’s here now, don’t have to die to get it.

“Furthermore, though perception and awareness may have no traces, sound, form, and motion cannot have boundaries… This mind has no borders, no boundaries, no sides or surfaces. Therefore the eye basically does not apprehend anything, forms and colors cannot divide. Is it not that faculties, consciousness, and data of sense are all empty?”